Stats and Rap

Should We Be Impressed By Eminem in Renegade?

Sometimes Eminem’s verse in Renegade is used by racists to prove that rap is “complex” and that it should be looked at as “real art”. Probably stems from the fact that these ppl started off by listening to things that were not rap and they didn’t have the ability to contextualize rap music critically by putting value on things like “creativity” or “concepts”, historically/artistically etc. Then the value of the music comes in the form of “technicality” and guys like Eminem who complain (in Renegade at least) about being too famous, become examples of “great rap music” or something. These racists show HOW COMPLEX Eminem is by showing his “intricate” rhyme patterns like the ones below:

A 5-syllable rhyme pattern that spans multiple words {lucrative lyrics, youth in hysterics, views in his marriage, you shouldn’t hear it, food for the spirit…}. A bunch of internal rhymes and assonance and other cool TECHNICAL things that don’t matter because Eminem is complaining about dumb things like being too famous. It IS hard to reproduce as a rhyme pattern because of how many words are used and it takes HARD MATH and other algorithms to try and reproduce it. It gave me incentive to try and venture into 5,6,7 syllable rhymes (still very new into that realm) and I’m attempting to try and do that. I have a bunch of rhymes (~7k) at www.rapmetrics.com/suckmydick.txt if you want to see. Here are some:

I think that the rest of that verse is better both on a technical level and in terms of subject matter. And if you take Em’s shots at the media-industrial complex that made him bigger than it could have anticipated as a kind of bittersweet joke (I usually do), they’re not as obnoxious.

i think my problem with the “shots at media” stuff is that the Marshall Mathers persona or w.e. is a calculated character designed to “shock and awe” people. which is cool. but there has to be some serious “self-reflection” and stuff like that before getting mad at “the media” for portraying him poorly. you know. obv people shouldn’t be getting their behavioural cues from rap music (especially potentially dangerous ideas) but iunno. there’s way more power/intrigue in accepting guilt first instead of like, automatic outward anger–>isolationism stuff that most of Em’s music (and his fans) love.